Chapter 6

Dover.(From a plan in the British Museum, 1756.)

Fig. 14.

Dover, Kent (Fig. 14).—The Norman historian, William of Poitiers, tells us that the castrum of Dover was built by Harold at his own expense.[391]This comes from the celebrated story of the oath of Harold to William, a story of which Mr Freeman says that there is no portion of our history more entangled in the mazes of contradictory and often impossible statements.[392]But let us assume the statement about thecastrumto be true; the question then to be answered is this: of what nature was that castrum? We never are told by English chroniclers that Harold built any castles, though we do hear of his fortifying towns. The presentwriter would answer this question, tentatively indeed, and under correction, by the theory that the castrum constructed or repaired by Harold was the present outer rampart of Dover Castle, which encloses an area of about 34 acres, and may have enclosed more, if it was formerly complete on the side towards the sea.[393]The evidence in support of this theory is as follows:—

1. There certainly was aburhon the top of the cliff at Dover in Saxon times, as theAnglo-Saxon Chronicletells us that in 1048 Eustace of Boulogne, after coming to Dover, and slaying householders there, wentup to the burh, and slew people both within and without, but was repulsed by the burh-men.[394]There was then a burh, and valiant burh-men on the cliff at Dover in Edward the Confessor’s reign. But the whole analogy of the word burh makes it certain that by the time of Edward it meant a fortified town.[395]

2. That the burh at Dover was of the nature of a town, with houses in it, is confirmed by the poem of Guy of Amiens, who says that when King William entered thecastrum, he ordered the English to evacuate their houses.[396]William of Poitiers also states that there was aninnumerable multitude of people in the castle,[397]though he may refer to a multitude gathered there for safety.

3. Though the whole of the outer enceinte is generally credited to Hubert de Burgh in Henry III.’s reign, the truth probably is that he built the first stone walls and towers on the outer rampart; but the existence of this earthen rampart shows that there was a wooden wall upon it previously. It is not improbable that it was for the repair of this wooden wall that so much timber was sent to Dover in the reigns of Richard I. and John.[398]Dering, who was lieutenant of the castle in 1629, records the tradition that the tower in the outer enceinte, called Canons’ Gate, dates from Saxon times (of course this could only be true of a wooden predecessor of the stone tower), and that Godwin’s Tower, onthe east side of the outer vallum, existed as a postern before the Conquest.[399]Nearly all the towers on this wall were supported by certain manors held on the tenure of castle-guard, and eight of them still retain the names of eight knights to whom William is said to have given lands on this tenure. Mr Round has shown that theWarda Constabulariiof Dover Castle can be traced back to the Conquest, and that it is a mere legend that it was given as a fief to a Fienes. He remarks that the nine wards of the castle named in the Red Book of the Exchequer are all reproduced in the names still attached to the towers. “This coincidence of testimony leads us to believe that the names must have been attached at a very early period; and looking at the history of the families named, it cannot have been later than that of Henry II.”[400]May it not have been even earlier? Eight of these names are attached to towers on the outer circuit,[401]and five of them are found as landholders in Kent in Domesday Book.

4. William of Poitiers further tells us that when the duke had taken the castle, he remained there eight days,to add the fortifications which were wanting.[402]What was wanting to a Norman eye in Anglo-Saxon fortifications, as far as we know them, was a citadel; and without laying too much stress on the chronicler’s eight days, we may assume that the short time spent by William at Dover was just enough for the construction of a motte and bailey, inside thecastrumof Harold, but crowned by wooden buildings only.

Taking these things together, we venture to assume that the inner court in which the keep of Dover stands, represents an original motte, or at any rate an original citadel, added to the castle by William I. Whether what now remains of this motte is in part artificial, we do not pretend to say; it may be that it was formed simply by digging a deep ditch round the highest knoll of ground within the ancient ramparts.[403]Anyhow, it is still in effect a motte, and a large one, containing not only the magnificent keep, but a small ward as well. That this keep was the work of Henry II. there can be no manner of doubt; thePipe Rollsshow that he spent more than £2000 on theturrisor keep of Dover Castle between the years 1181 and 1187, and Benedict of Peterborough mentions the building of the keep at this date.[404]The curtain around the motte may also be reckoned to be his work originally, as thecingulumis spoken of along with theturrisin the accounts. Modern alterations have left little of Norman character in this curtain which shows at a glance, and the gateways (one of which remains) belong to a later period.

Attached to this keep ward is another ward, whose rampart is generally attributed to Saxon times. We are not in a position positively to deny that the Saxons had an inner earthwork on the highest part of the ground within theirburh. But considering that small citadels are unusual in Saxon earthworks: considering also that this bailey is attached to the motte in theusual manner of a Norman bailey, and that its size corresponds to the usual size of an original Norman bailey in an important place, it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that this was the original bailey attached to the Conqueror’s motte. Its shape is singular, part of it being nearly square, while at the S.E. corner a large oval loop is thrown out, so as to enclose the Roman Pharos and the Saxon church. The outline of the bailey certainly suggests that it was built after the Pharos and the church, and was built with reference primarily to the keep or motte ward. The nature of the ground, and the necessity of enclosing the church and the Roman tower within the immediate bailey of the castle, which would otherwise have been commanded by them, were the other factors which decided the unusual shape of the bailey.

On this earthwork the foundations of a rubble wall were formerly to be traced,[405]probably built by Henry II., as considerable sums for “the wall of the castle” are mentioned in his accounts.[406]Whether there are still any remains of this curtain we are unable to say, but so many of the features of the middle ward have been swept away by modern alterations, and the difficulty of examining what remains, owing to military restrictions, is so great, that little can be said about it, and we find that most authorities observe a judicious silence on the subject. But as the carriage of stone is expressly mentioned in Henry II.’s accounts, we may with great probability assign to him the transformation of the original wooden castle of William into a castle of stone; while the transformation of the Anglo-Saxon boroughinto a stone enceinte was the work of Henry III.’s reign.

We think the evidence suggests that thisburhor outer rampart was in existence when the Conqueror came to Dover, crowned in all probability with a stockade and towers of wood. It may possibly have been a British or even a Roman earthwork originally (though its outline does not suggest Roman work); or it may have been built by Harold as a city of refuge for the inhabitants of the port.[407]The Saxon church which it encloses, and which has long been attributed to the earliest days of Saxon Christianity, is now pronounced by the best authorities to be comparatively late in the style.[408]

The size of the inner castle of Dover appears to be about 6 acres, reckoning the keep ward at 2, and the bailey at about 4.

The value of the town of Dover had trebled at the time of the Survey, in spite of the burning of the town at William’s first advent.[409]

Dudley, Staffs.Dunster, Somerset.

Dudley, Staffs.

Dunster, Somerset.

Fig. 15.

Dudley, Staffordshire (Fig. 15).—William Fitz Ansculf held Dudley at the time of the Survey, “and there is his castle.”[410]Mr Clark appears to accept the dubious tradition of a Saxon Dodda, who first built this castle in the 8th century, since he speaks of Dudley as “a great English residence.”[411]This tradition, however, is not supported by Domesday Book, which showsDudley to have been only a small and unimportant manor before the Conquest. The strong position of the hill was no doubt the reason why the Norman placed his castle there. There is no Norman masonry in the present ruins. The earliest work is that of the keep on the motte, a rectangular tower with round corner turrets, attributed by Mr W. St John Hope to about 1320. The first castle was demolished by Henry II. in 1175,[412]and an attempt to restore it in 1218 was stringently countermanded.[413]The case of Dudley is one of those which proves that Henry II. destroyed some lawful castles in 1175 as well as the unlawful ones. In 1264 a license to restore it was granted to Roger de Somery, in consideration of his devotion to the king’s cause in the Barons’ War.[414]The whole area of the castle, including the motte, but not including the works at the base of the hill on which it stands, is 1¾ acres. The bailey is an irregular oval, following the hill top. Dudley is an instance in which the value of the manor has gone down instead of up since the erection of the castle; this may perhaps be laid to the account of the devastation caused through the Staffordshire insurrection of 1069.

Dunster, Somerset (Fig. 15).—Called Torre in Domesday Book. “There William de Moion has his castle.”[415]The motte here appears to be a natural rock ortor, whose summit has been levelled and its sidesscarped by art. About 80 feet below the top is a (roughly) half-moon bailey, itself a shelf on the side of the hill; there is another and much smaller shelf at the opposite end.[416]Some foundations found in the S.W. corner of the upper ward appear to indicate a former stone keep.[417]Dunster was only a small manor of half a hide before the Conquest, but afterwards its value tripled. There was a borough as well as a castle.[418]The castle became thecaput baroniæof the De Moions, to whom the Conqueror gave fifty-six manors in different parts of the county. There is not the slightest reason to suppose that the site was fortified before the Conquest. Mr Clark remarks that “it is remarkable that no mouldings or fragments of Norman ornament have been dug up in or about the site, although there is original Norman work in the parish church.” The simple explanation, probably, is that the first castle of De Moion was of wood, although on a site where it would have been possible to build in stone from the first, as it does not appear that any part of the motte is artificial. The area of the bailey is 1¾ acres. The value of Dunster had risen at the date of Domesday.[419]

Durham.

Fig. 16.

Durham(Fig. 16).—The castle here was first built by the Conqueror, on his return from his expedition against Scotland in 1072.[420]It was intended as a strong residence for the bishop, through whom Williamhoped to govern this turbulent part of the country. He placed it on the neck of the lofty peninsula on which the cathedral stands. The motte of the Conqueror still remains, and so does the chapel[421]which he built in the bailey; probably the present court of the castle, though crowded now with buildings, represents the outline of the original bailey.[422]The present shell keep on the motte was built by Bishop Hatfield in Edward III.’s reign,[423]but has been extensively modernised. There can be little doubt that up to 1345 there were only wooden buildings on the motte, as the writer was informed by Canon Greenwell that no remains of older stone-work than the 14th century had been found there. It is so seldom that we get any contemporary description of a castle of this kind, that it seems worth while to translate the bombastic verse in which Laurence, Prior of Durham, described that of Durham in Stephen’s reign:[424]

“Not far hence [from the north road into the city] a tumulus of rising earth explains the flatness of the excavated summit, explains the narrow field on the flattened vertex, which the apex of the castle occupies with very pleasing art. On this open space the castle is seated like a queen; from its threatening height, it holds all that it sees as its own. From its gate, the stubborn wall rises with the rising mound,[425]and rising still further, makes towards the comfort (amæna) of the keep. But the keep, compacted together, rises againinto thin air, strong within and without, well fitted for its work, for within the ground rises higher by three cubits than without—ground made sound by solid earth. Above this, a stalwart house[426]springs yet higher than the [shell] keep, glittering with splendid beauty in every part;four posts are plain, on which it rests, one post at each strong corner.[427]Each face is girded by a beautiful gallery, which is fixed into the warlike wall.[428]A bridge, rising from the chapel [in the bailey] gives a ready ascent to the ramparts, easy to climb; starting from them, a broad way makes the round of the top of the wall, and this is the usual way to the top of the citadel.... The bridge is divided into easy steps, no headlong drop, but an easy slope from the top to the bottom. Near the [head of the] bridge, a wall descends from the citadel, turning its face westward towards the river.[429]From the river’s lofty bank it turns away in a broad curve to meet the field [i.e., Palace Green]. It is no bare plot empty of buildings that this high wall surrounds with its sweep, but one containing goodly habitations.[430]There you will find two vast palaces built with porches, the skill of whose builders the buildingwell reveals. There, too, the chapel stands out beautifully raised on six pillars, not over vast, but fair enough to view. Here chambers are joined to chambers, house to house, each suited to the purpose that it serves.... There is a building in the middle of the castle which has a deep well of abundant water.... The frowning gate faces the rainy south, a gate that is strong, high-reaching, easily held by the hand of a weakling or a woman. The bridge is let down for egress,[431]and thus the way goes across the broad moat. It goes to the plain which is protected on all sides by a wall, where the youth often held their joyous games. Thus the castellan, and the castle artfully placed on the high ridge, defend the northern side of the cathedral. And from this castle a strong wall goes down southwards, continued to the end of the church.”[432]

The original bailey of this castle covers 1 acre.

Ely, Cambridgeshire (Fig. 17).—This castle was built by William I. in 1070, when he was repressing the last struggle of the English under the heroic Hereward. The monks of Ely felt it a sore grievance that he placed the castle within their own bounds.[433]Both this castle and the one built by William at Aldreth, to defend the passage into the Isle of Ely, had a continuous existence, as they were both refortified by Nigel, Bishop of Ely in Stephen’s reign, and Ely Castle was besieged and taken by Stephen.[434]The earthworks of this castle still exist, to the south of the Minster. There is a fine motte withan oval bailey, of which the banks and ditches are traceable in parts. The area of the bailey is 2½ acres. Of Aldreth or Aldrey there appear to be no remains.

The value of the manor of Ely was £33 in the Confessor’s reign; it fell to £20 after the devastations of the Conquest, but had risen again to £30 at the time of the Survey.[435]

Ely, Cambs.Ewias Harold, Hereford.Eye, Suffolk.

Ely, Cambs.

Ewias Harold, Hereford.

Eye, Suffolk.

Fig. 17.

Ewias, Herefordshire (Fig. 17).—The brief notice of this castle in Domesday Book throws some light on the general theory of castle-building in England.[436]William FitzOsbern, as the king’s vicegerent, rebuilt this march castle, and committed it to the keeping of another Norman noble, and the king confirmed the arrangement. But in theory the castle would always be the king’s. This is the only case in the Survey where we hear of a castle beingrebuiltby the Normans. We naturally look to one of King Edward’s Norman favourites as the first founder, for they alone are said by history to have built castles on the Welsh marches before the Conquest. Dr Round conjectures that Ewias was the “Pentecost’s castle” spoken of in the (Peterborough)Anglo-Saxon Chroniclein 1052.[437]No masonry is now to be seen on the motte at Ewias, but Mr Clark states that the outline of a circular or polygonal shell keep is shown bya trench out of which the foundations have been removed. The bailey is roughly of half-moon shape and the mound oval. The whole area of the castle, including the motte and banks, is 2-⅓ acres.

Exeter.—This castle is not mentioned in Domesday Book, but Ordericus tells us that Williamchosea site for the castle within the walls, and left Baldwin de Molis, son of Count Gilbert, and other distinguished knights, to finish the work, and remain as a garrison.[438]In spite of this clear indication that the castle was a new thing, it has been obstinately held that it only occupied the site of some former castle, Roman or Saxon.[439]Exeter, of course, was a Roman castrum, and its walls had been restored by Athelstan. In this case William placed his castle inside instead of outside the city walls, because, owing to the natural situation of Exeter, he found in the north-west corner a site which commanded the whole city. Although Domesday Book is silent about the castle, it tells us that forty-eight houses in Exeter had been destroyed since William came to England,[440]and Freeman remarks that “we may assume that these houses were destroyed to make room for the castle, though it is not expressly said that they were.”[441]

Exeter Castle stands on a natural knoll, occupying the north-west corner of the city, which has beenconverted into a sort of square motte by digging a great ditch round the two sides of its base towards the town.[442]That this ditch is no pre-Roman work is shown by the fact that it stops short at the Roman wall, and begins again on the outside of it, where, however, the greater part has been levelled to form the promenade of theNorthernhayor north rampart of the city. On top of this hill, banks 30 feet high were thrown up, which still remain, and give to the courtyard which they enclose the appearance of a pit.[443]On top of these banks there are now stone walls; but these were certainly no part of the work of Baldwin de Molis, who must have placed a wooden stockade on the banks which he constructed. One piece of stonework he probably did set up, the gatehouse, which by its triangle-headed windows and its long-and-short work is almost certainly of the 11th century. It has frequently been called Saxon, but more careful critics now regard it as “work that must have been done, if not by Norman hands, at Norman bidding and on Norman design.”[444]It was no uncommon thing at this early period to have gatehouses of stone to walls of earth and wood. Of these gatehouses Exeter is the most perfect and the most clearly stamped with antiquity.

One thing we look for in vain at Exeter, and that is a citadel. There is no keep, and there is no record that there ever was one, though a chapel, hall, and other houses are mentioned in ancient accounts. Mr Clark says that probably the Normans regarded the whole court as a shell keep. It certainly was, in effect, a motte; but it was altogether exceptional among Norman castles of importance if it had no bailey. And in fact a bailey is mentioned in thePipe Rollof 1 Richard I., where there is an entry for the cost of making a gaol in the bailey of the castle.[445]Now Norden, who published a plan of Exeter in 1619, says that the prison which formerly existed at the bottom of Castle Lane (on the south or city front of the present castle) was “built upon Castle grounde,” and he states that the buildings and gardens which have been made on this ground are intrusions on the king’s rights.[446]The remarkably full account of the siege of Exeter in theGesta Stephanispeaks of an outerpromuralewhich was taken by Stephen, as well as the inner bridge leading from the town to the castle, before the attack on the castle itself. Unfortunately the wordpromuralehas the same uncertainty about it that attaches to so many mediæval terms, and the description given of it would apply either to the banks of a bailey, or to theheriçonon the counterscarp of the ditch of the motte. We must, therefore, leave it to the reader’s judgment whether the evidence given above is sufficient to establish the former existence of a bailey at Exeter, and to place Exeter among the castles of the motte-and-bailey type.

The description of the castle given by the writer ofthe Gesta has many points of interest.[447]He describes the castle as standing on a very high mound (editissimo aggere) hedged in by an insurmountable wall, which was defended by “Cæsarian” towers built with the very hardest mortar. This must refer to Roman towers which may have existed on the Roman part of the wall. Whether there was a stone wall on the other two sides, facing the city, may be doubted, as the expenditure entered to Henry II. in thePipe Rollssuggests that he was the first to put stone walls on the banks, and the two ancient towers which still exist appear to be of his time.[448]The chronicler goes on to say that after Stephen had taken thepromuraleand broken down the bridge, there were several days and nights of fighting before he could win the castle, which was eventually forced to surrender by the drying-up of the wells. The mining operations which he describes were no doubt undertaken with the view of shaking down the Roman wall at the angle where it joins the artificial bank of Baldwin de Molis. Possibly the chamber in the rock with the mysterious passages leading from it, which is still to beseen in the garden of Miss Owthwaite, at the point where the ditch ends, is the work of Stephen’s miners.[449]The description of his soldiers scrambling up theaggeron their hands and knees (quadrupede incessu) will be well understood by those who have seen the castle bank as it still rises from that ditch.

The present ward of Exeter Castle, which is rudely square in plan, covers an area of 2 acres, which is as large as the whole area of many of the smaller Norman castles. The castle was allowed to fall into decay as early as 1549,[450]and since then it has been devastated by the building of a Sessions House and a gaol. No plan has been preserved of the former buildings in this court, though the site of the chapel is known.

There is no statement in Domesday Book as to the value of Exeter.

Eye, Suffolk (Fig. 17).—This castle was built by William Malet, one of the companions of the Conqueror, who is described as having been half Norman and half English.[451]Eye, as its name implies, seems to have been an island in a marsh in Norman times, and therefore a naturally defensible situation. The references in thePipe Rollsto thepaliciumand thebretaschesof Eye Castle show that the outer defences of the castle at any rate were of wood in the days of Henry II.[452]Thatthere were works in masonry at some subsequent period is shown by a solitary vestige of a wing wall of flints which runs up the motte. A modern tower now occupies the summit. The bailey of the castle, the outline of which can still be traced, though the area is covered with buildings and gardens, was oval in shape, and covered 2 acres.

The value of the manor of Eye had gone up since the Conquest from £15 to £21. This must have been due to the castle and to the market which Robert Malet or his son William established close to the castle; for the stock on the manor and the number of ploughs had actually decreased.[453]A proof that there is no deliberate register of castles in Domesday Book is furnished by the very careful inventory of the manor of Eye, where there is no mention of a castle, though it is noticed that there are now a park and a market; and it is only in the account of the lands of the bishop of Thetford, in mentioning the injury which William Malet’s market at Eye had done to the bishop’s market at Hoxne, that the castle of Eye is named.

Gloucester.—“There were sixteen houses where the castle sits, but now they are gone, and fourteen have been destroyed in theburgusof the city,” says Domesday Book.[454]Gloucester was undoubtedly a Romanchester, and Roman pavements have been found there.[455]The description in the Survey would lead us to think that the castle was outside the ancient walls,[456]thoughSpeed’s map places it on the line of the wall of his time, which may have been a mediæval extension. The castle of Gloucester is now entirely destroyed, but there is sufficient evidence to show that it was of the usual Norman type. There was a motte, which was standing in 1819, and which was then called the Barbican Hill;[457]it appears to have been utilised as part of the works of the barbican. This motte must originally have supported a wooden keep, and Henry I. must have been the builder of the stone keep which Leland saw “in the middle of the area;”[458]for in 1100 Henry gave lands to Gloucester Abbey “in exchange for the site where now the keep of Gloucester stands.”[459]The bailey had previously been enlarged by William Rufus.[460]Possibly theframea turrisor framework tower spoken of in Henry II.’s reign may refer to the wooden keep which had been left standing on the motte.[461]The walls of Gloucester Castle were frequently repaired by Henry II.,[462]but the wordmurusby no means implies always a stone wall, and it is certain that the castle was at that time surrounded by a wooden stockade, as a writ of a much later period (1225) says that the stockade which is around our castle of Gloucester has been blown downand broken by the wind, and must be repaired.[463]Wooden bretasches on the walls are spoken of in thePipe Rollsof 1193, and even as late as 1222.[464]

The value of the city of Gloucester had apparently risen at the time of the Survey, though the entry being largely in kind, T. R. E., it is not easy to calculate.

Hastings, Sussex.Huntingdon.

Hastings, Sussex.

Huntingdon.

Fig. 18.

Hastings, Sussex (Fig. 18).—In this case we have positive contemporary evidence that the earthen mound of the castle was thrown up by the Normans at the time of the Conquest, for there is a picture in the Bayeux Tapestry which shows them doing it. A number of men with spades are at work raising a circular mound, on the top of which, with the usual all-inclusiveness of mediæval picturing, a stockade is already erected. A man with a pick seems to be working at the ditch. The inscription attached is: “He commands that a castle be dug at Hestengaceastra.”[465]There is no need to comment on the significance of this drawing and its inscription for the history of early Norman castles; what is extraordinary is that it should have been entirely overlooked for so long. In no case is our information more complete than about Hastings. Not only does Domesday Book mention thecastellariaof Hastings,[466]but theAnglo-Saxon Chroniclealso tells us that William built a castle there, while the chronicle of Battle Abbey makes the evidence complete by telling us that “having taken possession of a suitable site, he built awooden castlethere.”[467]This of course means thestockade on top of the motte, with the wooden tower or towers which would certainly be added to it. Wace states that this wooden castle was brought over in pieces in the ships of the Count of Eu.[468]

The masonry now existing at the castle is probably none of it older than the reign of Henry II. at the earliest, and most of it is certainly much later.[469]ThePipe Rollsshow that Henry II. spent £235 on the castle of Hastings between the years 1160 and 1181, and it is indicated that some of this money was for stone, and some was for a keep (turrim).[470]There is no tower large enough for a keep at Hastings now, nor have any stone foundations been found on the motte, and Mr Harold Sands, who has paid particular attention to this castle, concludes that Henry II.’s keep has been carried away by the sea, which has probably torn away at least 2 acres from the area of the castle.[471]The beautifulfragment of the Chapel of St Mary is probably of Henry II.’s reign; the walls and towers on the east side of the castle appear to be of the 13th century. The ditch does not run round the motte, but is cut through the peninsular rock on which the castle stands, the motte and its ward being thus isolated. The form of this bailey is now triangular, but it may have been square originally. Beyond the ditch is another bailey, defended by earthen banks and by a second ditch cut through the peninsula.[472]No exact estimate can be given of the original area of the castle, as so much of the cliff has been carried away by the sea.

Hastings itself had been a fortified town before the Norman Conquest, and is one of those mentioned in theBurghal Hidage. The name Hæstingaceaster, given to it in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle(1050), is a proof that the Saxons used the namechesterfor constructions of their own, as no Roman remains have been found at Hastings. But the Norman castle is outside the town, on a cliff which overlooks it. As in the case of the other ports of Sussex, the castle was committed to an important noble, in this case the Count of Eu.

The manor of Bexley, in which Hastings Castle stood, had been laid waste at the Conquest; at the date of the Survey it was again rising in value, though it had not reached the figure of King Edward’s days.[473]

Hereford.—There can be little doubt that the castle of Hereford was built by the Norman Ralph, Earl of Hereford, Edward the Confessor’s nephew, about the year 1048.[474]It was burnt by the Welsh in 1055, after which Harold fortified the town with a dyke and ditch; but as Mr Freeman remarks, it is not said that he restored the castle.[475]The motte of Earl Ralph is now completely levelled, but it is mentioned several times in documents of the 12th century,[476]and is described in a survey of 1652, from which it appears that it had a stone keep tower, as well as a stone breastwork enclosing a small ward.[477]It stood outside the N.W. corner of the bailey, surrounded by its own ditch; the site is still called Castle Hill. If the castle was not restored before the Norman Conquest it was certainly restored afterwards, as in 1067 we find the “men of the castle” fighting with Edric Child and the Welsh. The castle appears to have had stone walls by the time of Henry II., as the mention of a kiln for their repair proves.[478]But these walls had wooden towers.[479]The timber ordered in 1213 “ad hordiandum castellum nostrum de Hereford”[480]refers to the woodenaluresor machicolations which were placed on the tops of walls for the purpose of defending the bases.

Though Hereford was a private castle in the Confessor’s reign, it was claimed for the crown by Archbishop Hubert, the Justiciary, in 1197, and continued to be a royal castle throughout the 13th century.[481]

The bailey of Hereford Castle still exists, with its fine banks; it is kite-shaped and encloses 5½ acres. The castle stood within the city walls, in the south-east angle.

The value of Hereford appears to have greatly increased at the date of the Survey.[482]

Huntingdon(Fig. 18).—“There were twenty houses on the site of the castle, which are now gone.”[483]Ordericus tells us that the castle of Huntingdon was built by William on his return from his second visit to York in 1068.[484]Huntingdon had been a walled town in Anglo-Saxon times, and was very likely first fortified by the Danes, but was repaired by Edward the Elder. As in the case of so many other towns, the houses outside the walls had to pay geld along with those of the city, and it was some of the former which were displaced by the new Norman castle. Huntingdon was part of the patrimony of Earl Waltheof, and came to the Norman, Simon de Senlis, through his marriage with Waltheof’s daughter and heiress. The line of Senlis ended inanother heiress, who married David, afterwards the famous king of Scotland; David thus became Earl of Huntingdon. In the insurrection of the younger Henry in 1174, William the Lion, grandson of David, took sides with the young king, and consequently his castle was besieged and taken by the forces of Henry II.,[485]and the king ordered it to be destroyed. ThePipe Rollsshow that this order was carried out, as they contain a bill for “hooks for pulling down the stockade of Huntingdon Castle,” and “for the work of the new castle at Huntingdon, and for hiring carpenters, and crooks, and axes.”[486]We learn from these entries that the original castle of the Conquest had just been replaced by a new one, very likely a new fortification of the old mounds by William, in anticipation of the insurrection. We also learn that the new castle was a wooden one; for a castle which has to be pulled down by carpenters with hooks and axes is certainly not of stone. It does not appear that the castle was ever restored, though “the chapel of the castle” is spoken of as late as the reign of Henry III.[487]

The motte of Huntingdon still exists, and has not the slightest sign of masonry. The bailey is roughly square, with the usual rounded corners; the motte was inside this enclosure, but had its own ditch. The whole area was 2½ acres, but another bailey was subsequently added.

The value of Huntingdon appears to have been stationary at the time of the Survey, the loss of the twenty houses causing a diminution of revenue which must have been made up from the new feudal dues of the castle.

Launceston, or Dunheved,[488]Cornwall (Fig. 19).—There, says Domesday Book, is the castle of the Earl of Mortain.[489]In another place it tells us that the earl gave two manors to the bishop of Exeter “for the exchange of the castle of Cornwall,” another name for Dunheved Castle. We have already had occasion to note that the “exchange of the castle,” in Domesday language, is an abbreviation for the exchange of the site of the castle. The fact that the land was obtained from the church is a proof that the castle was new, for it was not the custom of Saxon prelates thus to fortify themselves. The motte of Launceston is a knoll of natural rock, which has been scarped and heightened by art. This motte now carries a circular keep, which cannot be earlier than the 13th century.[490]There is no early Norman work whatever about the masonry of the castle, and the remarkably elaborate fortifications on the motte belong to a much later period.[491]The motte rises in one corner of a roughly rectangular bailey, which covers 3 acres. It stands outside the town walls, which still exist, and join those of the castle, as at Totnes. Launceston was only a small manor of ten ploughs in the time of the Confessor. In spite of the building ofthe castle, the value of the manor had greatly gone down in William’s time.[492]The ten ploughs had been reduced to five.

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